The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Mighty Angels of Revelation 17 Continued

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Revelation 17
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

The Kings of the Earth

Vic Batista: Let’s now look at each of the players in Revelation 17 who surround Mystery Babylon, starting with the Kings of the Earth.

Nathan Jones: The Antichrist comes on the scene when the world is in panic, either from the Rapture of the Church as believers in Christ are taken off this earth, or due to the great financial distress which we read about during the Seal Judgments. The Antichrist has to set up a one-world economic system in order to fix the crisis quickly.

No matter what the circumstances are that cause the Antichrist to arise, the First Seal Judgment shows that he comes carrying a bow with no arrows, which means he comes to power in strength but peacefully and diplomatically. The whole world gives over their power to him so he can fix what will be one of the greatest challenges the world has ever faced. The nations will prop up the Antichrist as world ruler so that he can get them out of whatever terrible predicament they are in.

The nations will prop us the #Antichrist as world ruler to fix their terrible predicament. Click To Tweet

I believe we are actually beginning to witness how the earth is ratcheting up already for something like a financial meltdown. The world economies today are teetering on the brink of collapse due to overspending. It would be easy for the Antichrist to come on the scene and say, “Hey, I can fix all of this!” And, the people will desperately believe him. The Antichrist cannot in truth fix all the problems of the world, because his kingdom throughout the Tribulation is pummeled by the 21 judgments from God.

For the most part, though, the Antichrist’s kingdom is defined as one of wealth, extravagance, and the trade of riches. The Antichrist will become the super-economic leader. The Prophet Daniel reveals that the Antichrist will rise out of a ten-king confederation, usurping three, and then will become ruler over all ten kings. He will continue to divide the world into ten regions of ten kingdoms, and these kings of the earth will serve the Antichrist and his government.

The Ten Kings and their sub-kings, the passage states, commit fornication with the Harlot. In other words, they commit spiritual adultery with the Antichrist and his system instead of turning to Jesus Christ and His spiritual kingdom.

Vic Batista: A very powerful passage, and one we need to ask the Lord for discernment and wisdom concerning its interpretation. According to verse 2, it’s not just the kings of the earth, but the whole world, that has gone and fornicated with the Harlot, even becoming drunk with her fornications.

While the nations may turn to the Antichrist for financial wealth, we also see spiritual idolatry, or spiritual fornication, occurring in verse 2 where it says, “with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Most know what physical fornication is — sex outside of marriage — but here this is referring to spiritual fornication. After all, one mere woman cannot sexually service all the men of the world, right?

Nathan Jones: Yes, I don’t believe Revelation 17 is talking about an actual woman. Rather, I believe the Harlot represents a religious system. Throughout the Bible religious systems are given feminine qualities and feminine names. For instance, when we read the book of Zechariah, we read about a woman being put into a basket and she is carried away to Babylon. The text tells us she represents evil, and this evil is carried away to Babylon until her time is ready. If you look at the Zechariah reference, we are not talking about a mere woman, but a religious system.

The Harlot by all accounts must be the first religious system of the Antichrist. That’s what she is at least in Revelation 17, for I believe it can be argued in Revelation 18 that Mystery Babylon switches its imagery to a governmental system, which is more often separate from a religious system.

Vic Batista: I’m reminded about how in the Old Testament Queen Jezebel enforced the false religion of Baal worship and caused the Israelites to spiritually fornicate in their idolatry.

Nathan Jones: That is an excellent comparison! Jezebel brought in Baal worship to the Israelites and she caused her subjects to commit spiritual fornication, in other words, they gave up the one true God — their spiritual husband — and committed adultery with another spiritual husband, which are demonic idols. Idolatry is usually thought of as worshiping little statues and talismans, but these idols represent or embody actual demons. Idolatry in truth is actually demon worship, as well as the act of committing spiritual fornication so as to cheat on God.

Encouraging spiritual fornication is what the Antichrist does, as he entices this Harlot religious system upon the world so that the people will commit spiritual adultery. They turn to a one-world religion instead of turning to the one true Jesus Christ.

Vic Batista: Today people generally think it is impossible for a one-world religion to get off the ground, much less have the whole world embrace, but even now we are seeing some powerful people trying to unite the world under a one-world religious system.

Nathan Jones: Yes, there is a huge movement called Ecumenicalism trying to get all the religions of the world to work together under one banner. Just look at the car bumper stickers which read “Coexist” and you have the perfect example of this attempt towards a one-world religion. They’re looking for an umbrella organization all the world’s religions would be subservient to.

The world continues to be shocked as Pope Francis and the liberal Christian denominations push hard to place the religions of the world under one banner. There is a lot of talk, conferences and forums asking what should this new one-world spiritual religion look like.

So, what does the Harlot represent? Well, the Bowl Judgment Angel in the remainder of Revelation 17 describes for us just what this spiritual system will look like.

In the forty-sixth segment of our series “The Mighty Angels of Revelation,” the Harlot will ride the Scarlet Beast!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

RELATED ARTICLES

ABOUT AUTHOR View all posts Author Website

Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

LEAVE A REPLY

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *